To those who have decided to peripherally monitor this train to see of it goes off the rails, I feel obligated to inform you that I am not a same time every day writer. It comes when it comes and the schedule allows. I would love to be a same time every day AM writer. Alas, there are days when I am a PM writer, and even late night writer. (In fact, that is most days) Happy Scribing. Image found here: http://www.sampaikini.com/steam-locomotive-retro-train-hd-wallpaper/

May 23-25 / Days 204 –206 / 1616 Words

Apparently, it’s update time again, and that means penning the Irony 3 or Bust Novel Train update.“Geez, you want to ramp down the enthusiasm there, pal?”Hey, I’m jacked. It’s just that I don’t really have a lot to say as far as updating the book is concerned. I’m in chapter 39, 106,000 words in, and I am writing the ending. I am at the beginning of the final conflict resolution, which I don’t plan on drawing out too long, and then jumping right into what I hope is the last chapter. I’d say two weeks at most, if that.“Well, that is something to be excited about, isn’t it?”I agree. That is why the mood on the count meter, located on the Home page, has remained in happy mode for a while now. The animated potato looks like the freakazoid of the week, but at least he is happy.“Have you thought about what you are going to say in the last ever update of the Irony 3—oh, heck, on this blog?”You mean the Irony 3 or Bust Novel Train blog?“You’re a shameless promoting shill.”

Well, I mean—wait, as a matter of fact, I suck at promotion. I have my name out there across a couple of media platforms, but I am way below standard on the promotional trail. However, at least the name is out there now. It is more than what was before. One step at a time.“Okay, so you’re not a shameless promoting shill. Are you saying you want to become one?”No. What I want to do is just write, but I understand the need for an online presence, so I will post some things and tweet some things and keep the name out there across a few accounts I can manage. I figure being active on a few is better than having many neglected accounts across the web. Social Media promotion is a job, make no mistake about it.“That’s why they have people you can hire to handle those things.”Pfft. Hire a media consultant? With what? Gold pressed latinum from Star Trek? “Good point. And that one pot you have to go in is imaginary, and mine, so don’t even think about it.”

Ha. That was funny. Oh, and I have not thought about the final post yet. Probably, because I haven’t decided on whether or not I will continue the updates into the rewrite. I think it would be prudent, and I may do something, just on a smaller scale, like maybe once or twice a week. We will see. Anyway, I have dribbed and drabbed enough here. Time to wrap this puppy up.“Don’t you mean loony puppy?”With you around, it is the only thing I could mean.“Hey, I resemble that remark.”Don’t I know it. Happy writing people. Feel free to see Contact page for calendar blurbs, and Home page progress meter for count and mood.

May 26-28 / Days 206-208 / 1705 Words

Coming up on the end of another writing week on the rails of the Irony 3 or Bust Novel Train. It won’t be long now. In chapter 39, I am working out the last loose end. After that, I do some wrap up explanations in chapter 40 and that is all she wrote.“Don’t you mean all ‘he’ wrote? Well, unless you’ve decided to follow in Bruce Jenner’s footsteps?”I don’t even know what to say to that, so I am leaving it alone. Let Bruce be Bruce, and let me finish this book.“That just it, Bruce doesn’t want to be Bruce anymore.”Then let Bruce be Aunt Heather or whoever he wants to be, and then let me finish this book. Now, where was I?“That’s all Roberta Shroud wrote.”You do know what this means, right?“Corner?”Quicker than Al Bundy, pal.

Okay, now that the peanut gallery is away, let me say this about the book’s progress. I have said more than once lately that I have nothing new to report. For the most part, that is true. I have been near the ending for a while now, and at 500 words a day, it can sometimes take a week to complete a scene; depending on what is transpiring in book time. But, do you know what ‘I have nothing new to report’ actually means? It means that I am humping like a dog taxing whatever creative storytelling talents I have to complete this novel. It means some days I am wrestling words on the page one letter at a time, and others fragmented sentences at a snail’s clip. Deleting, rewriting, he said, she said, plot explanations and loop-hole spackling, all in an attempt to reach The End. In other words, no, I have nothing new to report. Only that I am using chewed gum and paper clips to keep the Irony 3 or Bust Novel Train on the tracks to its destination.“So, if I understand you, what you saying is that you have nothing new to report?”Exactly. Now, back to the corner with you.

So, in conclusion, my fellow passengers, I have absolutely nothing new to report. The train is still on the tracks, my caboose is still in motion, and Irony 3 is chugging along toward The End. And that, my friends, is a beautiful thing. Happy writing. Feel free to see Contact page for calendar blurbs, and Home page progress meter for count and mood.

May 29 – Day 209 – 527 Words

We've come to the end of another writing week on the Irony 3 or Bust Novel Train. Wow, quite the ride it has been so far. Thirty weeks down and possibly one more to go. I would say more like half a week at this point, but we will see. Individually, the weeks have flown by. Cumulatively, they have dragged in the wind, like a plane with broken landing gear. :) Being that I am penning this update two days after the fact, (31st) today officially marks seven months of writing. Wow, just, I don’t really know what to say. Did Irony, Book 2 - Gin Soaked Dreams, and Sticky Buns, take comparatively as long? Yes, but I have written this one in the public eye, which included blog updates and tweets and letting you guys in on the emotional roller coaster ride of this novel.

I cannot say it hasn’t been fun. However, I also cannot say that at times I didn’t want to run the train off the rails and not continue with these updates. I am glad I stuck it out, though. It will make the completion of the book that much sweeter. What have I learned during this public journey? First, that honestly, I don’t know if I will ever do it again to this extent. One update a week for the next novel? A possibility. None at all, and go back to writing privately, minus a few short tweets on #amwriting progress? Maybe. Both of these ideas are in the hopper moving forward.

Second, that being a writer isn’t just writing. It is endless promotion and blogging and doing things of this Novel Train nature to get the work out there. That is, if you ever want to break into the big time. (Of which, doing all of those things in abundance is no guarantee. But, it certainly can’t hurt.) It is an area in which I find myself lacking; which brings me to another thing I learned on this train trip. It is okay to be lacking. Let me explain. I can and will promote my work, but if I just want to write, and only write, then that is okay too. Some will think me crazy for saying that, and probably accuse me of having no ambition to reach for the stars. True or not, I will take that hit and keep writing.

To those authors who write and also hump day and night for the recognition of their work, I am behind you all the way and want you to make it as big as your dreams. I expect moving forward that I will fall somewhere in the middle. Do some promotional work, but mostly write, and by the grace of God, keep writing. Maybe I will make it big and maybe I won’t. However, what I do want to do is keep writing from a passionate heart, telling the stories I want to tell. The stories inside of me that want to be told. The stories that for years have wanted a voice and finally have one. I don’t want to write to market, unless the market vibes with my author’s voice. And that author’s voice, my author’s voice, is something unique to me, which I want to nurture and grow. Is it unique enough to sell? Are my books any good? *shrugs* I suppose time will tell.

I’d also like to say that none of this is written in stone. I may decide in a year to deluge the internet with promotion of my work. To paint every nook and cranny of the World Wide Web with Irony propaganda. I may also decide that I will try my hand at the top selling genre and see what happens. Because, that author’s voice I mentioned? I am still finding it, still probing, and with each book taking it a little further. Which, to me, means leaving open the possibility for change, both in my approach and tweaking of writing style. Yes, I am writing what I want to now, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to eventually step out of my writing comfort zone. I have a rudimentary plan for that, nothing concrete, but it does tell me that though I want to write what I want, I remain open to growth. Another thing I learned on this journey.

Lastly, I learned that some of you passengers have bottomless bellies. Do you know how much food and drink I have gone through in just seven months? Enough to feed a nation, probably. A small village for two years? Definitely. All jokes aside, it has been a pleasure to have you along on this trip. The destination is near. The Irony 3 or Bust Novel Train will soon be set for refitting. Will it be scrapped and the metal used to construct the Irony 4 pleasure cruise boat? Anything is possible. If that happens, or something similar, I hope to see every one of you back, sailing along for the ride. And don’t worry about food. I will send Red Guy out into the ocean to get more, if need be. Thank you, again, for taking this ride with me. It has been my pleasure to have you along.

"Hey, you know I can’t swim. Why would you say something like that? Are you trying to get rid of me or something?”Perish the thought, my friend. Perish the thought. Happy writing people. Feel free to see Contact page for calendar blurbs, and Home page progress meter for count and mood.

For this week’s week end jam, I temporarily transform the Irony 3 Novel Train into the Love Train by the O’Jays.